Lee Child the Writer, Jack Reacher the Character, and the Enduring Appeal of Lone Wolves

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In creating the Jack Reacher character, Lee Child launched a series of books that now boast 100 million copies in print and have been turned into movies and a popular Amazon streaming series. Today on the show, I talk to Lee about what makes Reacher so compelling and much more. We first discuss how Lee didn't get started with writing until he was almost forty, and what prompted him to change careers. We then unpack the Reacher character, discussing the ancient, archetypal roots of this vigilante, drifter detective, what he has in common with the knight errant, and the enduring appeal of the lone wolf. We also talk about Lee's writing process, why midlife is the best time to write, and why, after writing more than two dozen Reacher novels, he's chosen to hand off the series to his brother and fellow writer, Andrew.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness
0:10.3	Podcast in creating the Jack Reacher character Lee Child launched a series of books that now
0:15.1	boasts 100 million copies in print and have been turned into movies and a popular Amazon
0:19.0	streaming series.
0:20.0	Tay in the show, I talked to Lee about what makes Reacher so compelling and much more.
0:25.0	We first discussed why Lee didn't get started with writing until he was almost 40, and what prompted him to change
0:28.9	careers.
0:29.9	We then impact the Reacher character, discussing the ancient, archetypal roots of his vigilante
0:34.2	drifter detective, what he has in common with the night errant, and the enduring appeal of the
0:38.5	lone wolf. We also talk about Lee's writing process, why midlife is the best time to write, and why, after
0:44.0	writing more than two dozen Reacher novels, he has chosen to hand off the series to his brother
0:47.7	and fellow writer Andrew. After the show is over, check out our shownuts at AIM.
0:51.8	IS slash Reacher.
0:53.0	All right Lee Child,
1:05.0	welcome to the show.
1:06.0	Thank you, great to be here.
1:08.0	So you are an international best-selling author who has created one of the great detective characters in English
1:15.2	literature Jack Reacher. I'm sure a lot of our listeners are fans of your work they've
1:20.4	read the books they maybe even watched these series on Amazon.
1:24.4	And I know my dad, Tom McKay, huge fan of your work.
1:27.4	And I hope today in this conversation we can maybe get to the bottom of why you think
1:32.1	Reacher has such broad appeal. But before we do,
	...

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